


Barefoot and at home

by melonbutterfly



Series: Stranger Things Have Happened [9]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crossdressing, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2013-04-23
Packaged: 2017-12-09 06:12:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not planned, but that doesn't mean Tony doesn't mean it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Barefoot and at home

Loki is in the living room, and he is not showing off, which is why it's entirely unfair that the mere sight of him steals Tony's breath away. Or maybe that's exactly why, Tony isn't sure which – probably the latter, come to think of it.

He just looks so, so beautiful. Stunning. Tony would probably never speak it out loud but in the privacy of his own mind he sometimes allows himself, and so he leans in the doorway and just looks. Takes in the slim line of Loki's body, the way the shirt hugs his waist and falls open at the collar, his silky hair messily swept to one side of his face, the way the afternoon sunlight makes his green eyes gleam. Loki's barefoot, and Tony never understood the "barefoot and pregnant" thing, but he understands the barefoot part now. It means Loki is home, comfortable, that he won't leave.

This is not at all news to Tony. It's been over three years since they got back together and they haven't even once come close to breaking up, it has sunk in by this point that Loki is going to stay. Still, he marvels at it, because Loki… he's magnificent. Brilliant and gorgeous and funny and tantalizing, and Tony can't for the life of him understand who would ever willingly let him go. The irony doesn't escape him – after all, he has let Loki go in a manner of speaking more than once in the past – but maybe something changed, maybe somewhere along the way he just lost the entitled arrogance of being incapable of comprehending that Loki could actually, truly leave him, but he doesn't think he's ever going to take Loki for granted again.

It's been almost a year since he almost died, and it was he who would have left, which should make it easier for him, but somehow that's not at all true. He just wants to cradle Loki's face, have him close and swear that they're never going to leave, neither of them.

"Come in and help me if you have time to lurk," Loki says, pulling Tony out of his thoughts a little. Releasing the lower lip he's been chewing on, Loki turns his head to look at him, and Tony couldn't prevent himself from touching him if his life depended on it. He steps into the room and fits his hands around Loki's waist, pulls him in to kiss his abused lower lip, and then he just has to wrap his arms around Loki and hold him close for a moment. And Loki moves into the circle of his embrace willingly, doesn't look surprised or dubious or anything, even though Tony coming out of nowhere to hug him isn't really a daily occurrence. Or an occurrence at all.

"I have to pick my top ten favorites, at least two per theme," Loki says after a moment, lips moving softly against Tony's neck. He's referring to the photos he pinned to a wall, a photoshoot for an interview he did. It's going to be big, at least two pages with a couple more of pictures of him, plus the cover. Tony looks at the photos and there Loki is, in a suit, all formal and brooding and sexy, and the photographer seems to have fallen in love with Loki's eyes, the angles of his face, going by the number of close-up shots there are. It's entirely understandable, in Tony's opinion, even while it's a little funny because some of the earlier photos include a couple of other models, armcandy that the photographer seems to have entirely discarded at one point, the theme moving from something close to pimp to "oh my god your cheekbones someone fan me some air".

Then there are the casual pictures, some of them artsy black/white, Loki seemingly in public, at a fountain, at a café, walking down a cobbled street. The rain, Tony knows, was entirely accidental, a surprise shower that both Loki and the photographer made use of, resulting in a number of photos of wet Loki, clothes clinging to his body, hair plastered to his face. If Tony believed in a higher power he would consider this a gift from them, because hot damn.

Despite all this, Tony has no difficulty picking a favorite theme: the one where they styled Loki's hair into a curly mess, gave him dark red lipstick and poison green eyeshadow and the androgynous clothes and poses to go with it. Tony has always loved Loki's genderfuck shoots, and it's been over six years since the last one. Someone who didn't know him to be a man – which probably aren't that many people, Loki isn't exactly unknown – probably wouldn't realize.

Loki turns around without moving out of Tony's embrace, leans back into his chest and puts his hands on Tony's. When he follows his gaze he huffs a laugh. "I should have known. Did you even notice the others?"

There are a couple of others, mostly fashion shoots, and as fond as Tony is of Loki's body, he has seen thousands of those. He wouldn't go as far as saying they're nothing special – they _are_ of Loki – but they're not extraordinary.

Reaching out, Tony points to one of his favorite pictures, shot at an angle that makes Loki's cheeks look fuller and his cheekbones even more noble, somehow. His red lips gleam and the bat of his eyelashes would look seductive if it weren't for the distant expression in Loki's eyes, putting the viewer at a distance, saying clearly _you have no permission to touch. Of course you want to, but you are not allowed._

Tony is holding Loki in his arms, looking at countless versions of his face, some more approachable, most less, and there is only one thought in his mind. "Marry me."

Loki stills, turns around to look Tony in the eyes, face slack with surprise. "What?"

"It's going to be legal here next month," Tony says, and he could tell Loki all the things jumbled up in his head – how gorgeous Loki is, how he wants to keep him forever, wants to forever be kept by him, how he knows that they're not going to separate anytime soon but would still like for it to be official, would like, as kitschy as it is, the promise of _forever_ , of _never anybody else_ , of _me and you and us_ , and that's not even including all the rational thoughts relating to medical rights and testaments, or the political ones because no matter how much they never gave a fuck, they were still considered less valid a couple than a heterosexual one – but before he can Loki says "yes", and then they're kissing, and maybe Tony is going to say it all later, but right now he has an engagement to celebrate.


End file.
